HP announce three pronged Web OS assault

The latest rumblings from the HP camp suggest that new devices supporting their Web OS platform – including a netbook – may be just around the corner.

Following on from the Palm Pre Web OS smartphone – and HP’s purchase of Palm, the company that developed Web OS last decade – HP announced via an introductory video that it would be launching Web OS on a “phone and a slate and a netbook”.

Well we know that a slate device is in the pipeline in the form of the HP Topaz, but as yet no netbooks have been rumoured featuring Web OS.

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Huge boost for PC sales thanks to tablets

A report has shown that global PC sales experienced a 19.2% year-on-year increase in the final quarter of 2010.

The report by Canalys identified the enormous contributions new devices such as tablets have had on the market in the past year, a year that saw Apple rise to third place in the PC market table.

Apple enjoyed this rise after shifting 11.5m units in Q4 of 2010; roughly half of those units were iPads. Read the rest of this entry »

Notebook sales experience a merry Christmas

A new analysis of notebook sales in the final quarter of 2010 has revealed that the device enjoyed healthy figures in the run up to Christmas – despite fears of a slump in the market.

The study by industry researchers, GfK showed that sales of notebooks in December 2010 had actually increased by 5% on the same period of 2009.

Furthermore, the value of notebooks sold in that month experienced a growth of 12.1% year-on-year; another indicator of the health of a market previously though to be ailing.

GfK’s IT account manager, Christopher Kennedy-Sloane attributed the growth to the loyalty of the British consumer.

“This proves that despite the distractions of new products such as tablets and the difficulties brought on by the snow, the UK consumer remains committed to the notebook as their chosen main computing device.” He said.

Kennedy-Sloane also cited a lack of direct competition between the notebook and the rising tablet market as a reason for the notebooks continuing success. The tablet is a device which seems intent on blowing its competitors – read: the netbook – out of the water.

When asked for his interpretation of the huge rise in the value of notebooks sold, he talked of an increasingly knowledgeable body of consumers within the UK who, more than ever, are driven by what specifications suit their needs, and then buy accordingly.

“Only 6.6% of notebooks sold in the UK in 2010 had 1GB of RAM as a standard specification, compared to 16.1% in 2009. This shift has mostly been to 4GB rather than 2GB or 3GB, and while only 23% of notebooks in 2009 were sold with 4GB of RAM, in 2010 33% of all notebooks sold had 4GB of RAM”.

Dell’s Inspiron Duo to be Available on Three

Dell have announced that their Inspiron Duo netbook/tablet hybrid will be hitting the Three mobile network in February.

The Inspiron Duo has a 10.1 inch tablet touchscreen, which is also keyboard compatible for when it decides to be a netbook. It comes equipped with 2BG of RAM, a 320GB hard drive, 2 USB ports and a multiformat memory card reader.

We are used to all kinds of acrobatics from these sorts of hybrid devices, but the Inspiron Duo is nothing short of innovative. The LCD screen rotates freely on two joints within the netbook frame and is held in place by strong magnets when locked into place.

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Acer unleash new member of their Aspire family

Acer have revealed their new Aspire E100 netbook; a device aimed at the education sector.

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Toshiba aim new range at multimedia market

Toshiba have announced that its new NB range of netbooks will be crammed with multimedia features.

The NB550D will be equipped with top quality Harman/Kardon speakers and Dolby Advanced Audio. Its 10.1 inch widescreen will also be HD capable.

It is features like these that Toshiba hope will ignite the interest of today’s tech-savvy media consumers. Toshiba say the range is “designed for people who enjoy listening to music, watching videos and web surfing on the go.”

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Acer: We aren’t phasing out our netbooks after all

Acer claims that recent reports that they are to “phase out” netbook production in favour of tablet devices, are down to a translation error.

Comments made by Lu Bing-hsian, Taiwan area sales manager for Acer, have been taken out of context according to the PC giant; Acer will continue to be active in both markets.

Acer sought to clarify their position with a press release, stating that “as PCs are no longer used to create content but are more and more becoming consumption tools, new devices and new form factors are appearing .This means that the range of devices available to users is getting wider and tablets are just another piece of the mosaic.” Read the rest of this entry »

Asus reveal their new Sirocco series

After teasing us with a trailer, Asus have revealed the new Eee PC Sirocco range; a series of trademark netbook designs to catch the eye of consumers in 2011.

The Sirocco design will adorn the latest models of Asus’ Eee PC series; the1015PW netbook. Available colour schemes will include gold, pink and purple.

The theme of the series echoes the rippling surface of body of water; it appears the “making waves” tagline was very much “pun intended”.

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New 4G Motorola Atrix smartphone will double up as HD netbook (video)

Motorola have unveiled a possibly revolutionary bit of kit; a “laptop dock” that transforms a humble smartphone into a netbook.

Unveiled at the recent CES convention, the Atrix smartphone appears no different from any other Android device, but plugging it into the connector port on the back of the laptop dock accessory reveals its full capabilities.

Within moments a fully functional netbook desktop appears on the laptop dock’s 11.6 inch, 1384×768 pixel display, along with the homescreen of the phone in a small moveable window. Experts are proclaiming the device a huge leap forward in the field of convergence.

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Dell Inspiron Duo stocked on the Tablet PC and Netbook aisles in stores

Dell’s new Inspiron Duo is another one of those devices suffering from a serious identity crisis. It just cannot decide if it is a tablet or a netbook.

This in itself is nothing new, but the Duo does use some niftily innovative features to achieve its transition. The keyboard and lid frame of the device are just the same as on your standard netbook. The screen however, is mounted on a pivot within the frame, and can flip 180 degrees with startling ease.

Once the screen is locked into its opposite position, simply close the lid and – as if by magic – the device is now a tablet. The 10.1 inch screen is both touch screen and keyboard compatible.

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